Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/55

 constantly met with. Its chief variety, indeed its only variety so far as is known, was céladon. The primary purpose of establishing the factory at Juchou seems to have been to produce this highly esteemed monochrome. Julien, in his translation of the Tao-lu, falls into the error of calling the Ju-yao blue. He repeats this same error more than once, and his translation has thus been the means of deceiving connoisseurs with respect to the nature of several of the early Chinese wares. Julien's misconception—originally pointed out by the writer of these pages in 1881, in the Chrysanthemum—is alluded to at length in a recent brochure by Dr. Hirth. The fact is that the ideograph Ching employed by the author of the Tao-lu, may be properly rendered by "blue" in the great majority of cases. Thus the decoration on blue-and-white porcelain of later generations is called Chinghwa, and the same ideograph (ching) is used to describe the colour of the blue cotton coats worn by the lower orders in China. Julien was naturally deceived, not having the aid of research in loco and practical knowledge to verify his opinion. And of course when, in one instance, he had committed himself to the rendering "blue," he adhered to it consistently throughout, although it involved him in such anomalies as "onion-blue." The Ju-yao was unquestionably céladon. As for the nature of the ware, it is on record that the clay employed at Juchou was red; though there is nothing to indicate whether it was red originally or whether it became red in the furnace—a peculiar property, as will be seen by and by, representative of early Chinese céladon. In the Tao-lu the pâte of the Ju-yao is said to have been of fine quality and to have shone like copper, from